Mariah Carey Reflects On Her Career In The Latest Episode Of ‘Genius Level’

“I was able to say, ‘If I do this, I don’t want to be forced to do other people’s material.’”

On November 14, legendary musician and songwriter Mariah Carey stopped by Genius for the latest installment of Genius Level, our live conversation series with icons of the music business, including influential artists, songwriters, producers, and executives. During the conversation with Genius' Head of Artist Relations Rob Markman, the 2019 Songwriters Hall of Fame nominee delivered a retrospective on her career just a few days before the release of her 15th studio album, Caution.

To open the interview, Mariah spoke about the early days of her career before the topic turned to demo versions of her early songs. After revealing that she doesn’t know where to find the “teenage demo version” of “Hypnotized” that she teased in 2015, Mariah addressed the purported demo track of “Vanishing,” which made its way onto the internet a few years ago.

“Yes. That’s the demo of ‘Vanishing,’” she said after hearing a snippet of the leak. “It sounds like the demo. I haven’t heard the demo in forever. But I liked the demo.”

When the discussion shifted to Mariah’s ear for samples, she explained that the Mobb Deep sample on “The Roof” was inspired by hearing “Shook Ones Part II" on the radio during an upstate New York drive.

“I heard it over the phone at first, and I was like, ‘Oh, I’m sure they’re gonna speed it up,’” she said. “They ended up using pretty much all of it. I was like, ‘Okay, well, I’m so glad they liked it.’ I was very flattered by it.”

If she were to return the favor, Mariah said that she would want to build a song around Drake’s Meek Mill diss, “Back to Back.”

“When I made the record, I was trying to make a classic sounding record,” she said. “I wanted it to be timeless and so, that was the goal. I feel like that’s the only reason, that’s one of the reasons why it transcends different things ‘cause a lot people feel like, they think it’s a remake.”

“They were like what is she doing? They really didn’t understand and it just became a thing,” Mariah remembered. “I was fortunate enough to have Ol' Dirty Bastard on the record ‘cause I was a huge fan… but certain people were like, 'I could do that. What is that? What is he doing?’ And I’m like, ‘No, no, no, no, no, just trust me, it’s, we’re good.’”